EVENING. People.

Tucker Offers To Drop Appeal If Prosecutors Can Cut A Deal

June 04, 1996

Gov. Jim Guy Tucker is offering to drop an appeal on loan fraud and conspiracy convictions if prosecutors will make a deal on separate charges against him and two business partners.

Tucker has told prosecutors that he won't fight last week's convictions by a Whitewater jury if prosecutors dismiss an indictment against him and two other men, Tucker attorney George B. Collins said Monday.

Tucker made no offer to testify about anyone, including President Clinton or First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Collins said.

Collins said independent counsel Kenneth Starr and members of Starr's staff were "more than cordial" when he conveyed Tucker's proposal Thursday in Washington, D.C. The meeting came a day after Tucker learned he needs a liver transplant.

The Whitewater grand jury at Little Rock indicted Tucker twice -- with businessman William J. Marks Sr. and lawyer John H. Haley in June 1995 and with James and Susan McDougal in August 1995.

The second case went to trial first, and last week, a jury convicted Tucker and the McDougals last week in a scheme in the mid-1980s to make illegal loans.

Following the verdicts, Tucker announced he would resign as governor by July 15. Sentencing is set for Aug. 19.

The June 1995 indictment accused Tucker and Marks of lying in 1987 to obtain a $300,000 Small Business Administration loan. The indictment also accused Tucker, Marks and Haley of plotting to use a sham bankruptcy to avoid paying taxes on the sale of cable television systems.

Collins said he asked Starr's office to drop the case because it's highly unlikely that Tucker would receive a consecutive sentence if convicted.